Beads, Baubles, and Jewels July 2011

Working on the PBS tv show Beads, Baubles, and Jewels is fun work, but most of the work goes on before we even get to the studios in Cleveland Ohio where the show is taped. Each segment needs finished pieces (eye candy, right?) And, because we don't have much time to get the lesson across, many of the projects have stepped out stages of techniques made ahead of time so we can effectively teach you all how to do something in such a short span of time. Keep in mind most of the designs are original and newly invented or reinvented just for the show, so there's a lot of design thought put into each lesson. Here are some examples of what I did for the new Series 1500 which will air in September:

For the Beadalon sponsored colored wire and large bead segment, I took size 2/0 seed beads from John Bead and wove them into a stylish wraparound cuff with a Tierra Cast wing charm. wanting to show the colored wire, I chose copper colored designer stringing wire to play off the bright blue beads, and used copper findings. Plus I added in Swarovski Caribbean Blue rondelles to push how to use big beads and colored wire in bead weaving.

For the lesson on using seed beads to embellish larger wood and resin beads, I already had tons of beaded beads 'cause I LOVE making those.

Getting ready for the spoke bead lesson still took hours of preparation time to show the stages of each beaded bead in a only couple minutes of air time. Here you can see just two of the stages of spokes being stitched ahead of time, so on the air I can pick up a stage in progress and do a couple stitches, and describe the steps without taking time to do all the actual stitching.

At the studio, each lesson is set out on large cookie sheets with all that will be shown on the air-- stepped out sections, materials and tools, and finished jewelry. I tape my stepped out sections on large white index cards to transport them from home to studio--and each one has a needle prestrung on the WildFire thread, also to save time on the air.

So much work, right? But it sure builds my excitement to get revved for each show!

I hope it all works for you--but be sure to let me know how I can do things better or what other seed beady lessons, materials and tools you want to see from me.

Happy Beading!